Dorner's mentor tipped off police before manhunt

When she heard about the first death, her gut told her the connection wasn't a coincidence

By Joel Rubin
Los Angeles Times

IRVINE, Calif. — It was nearing midnight when Terie Evans called police in Irvine with a hunch: An ex-Los Angeles police officer named Christopher Dorner might have killed a young Irvine woman and her fiance a few days earlier.

Evans, an LAPD sergeant who had trained Dorner, conceded that her theory was a long shot. But Dorner's name had suddenly surfaced the day before in a strange phone call. And she knew he had a connection to the woman who had been killed. It seemed too much to dismiss as a coincidence.

For the eight days that Dorner eluded capture, Evans remained silent and laid low, while Irvine and Los Angeles police officials kept secret her role in identifying the suspect. Evans had been Dorner's training officer and was at the center of the incident that led to his dismissal from the force. Authorities worried it might enrage Dorner further if he knew she had once again played a lead role in determining his fate.